Facebook’s Faceplant: What Do Investors Really Desire?

Peter Kendall, Chief Analyst for U.S. Markets and Cultural Trends, comments on recent news that loses $120 billion in value after warning that revenue growth will take a hit.

“Investors may say they want “privacy first,” but history tells us what they really want is “profits first.”

For months, none of it mattered. First came revelations that Facebook had been “weaponized by Russia to try and sway the 2016 election.” Then came reports of Facebook’s failure to protect users’ private data, followed by more and more revelations about privacy issues and Facebook’s controversial defense of posting conspiracy theories and holocaust deniers on its social media platform. All along, Facebook continued to advance to new all-time highs. On Tuesday, one industry expert put it this way: “The social media giant looks invincible.”

Until Wednesday afternoon, when Facebook fell more than 20% — and nearly $150 billion in market value! — as the 18-month long “public relations nightmare” caught up to its stock price in one fell swoop. What happened? A dramatic shift in investor psychology to a less-forgiving nature. That action fits seamlessly into our outlook, not just for Facebook and technology stocks, but for the stock market and U.S. economy as a whole. If we are right, the repercussions will be with us for a long time to come.”

About Peter Kendall

Peter Kendall co-edits Elliott Wave International’s Elliott Wave Financial Forecast with Steven Hochberg. He also provides commentary on cultural trends, the economy and the U.S. stock market for the firm’s Global Market Perspective. Kendall began his career as a financial reporter and columnist in 1983. He wrote “On the Money,” a column for The Business Journal, from 1991 to 1997. Kendall joined Elliott Wave International as a researcher in 1992 and served as the director of EWI’s Center for Cultural Studies, where he focused on popular culture and the new science of socionomics. He has been contributing to Global Market Perspective since 1995, and he also contributes to EWI’s Short Term Update. He graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with a degree in Business Administration.

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